


Mutant Blood

by Blue_Hood



Series: Not What They Seem [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Brotherhood of Mutants, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Happy Ending, M/M, Magic, Major Character Injury, Mutants, Recovery, Souled Vampire(s), Supernatural Elements, Urban Legends, Vampire Bites, Xavier Institute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 12:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20209675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Cooper tries to shut down a blood factory, it does not go well.





	Mutant Blood

They were given shore leave following a harrowing encounter with HYDRA, that was thankfully at night this time. With the weekend off, Cooper and Coulson collapsed on the couch with the others spread around the lounge. Their resident vampire told his boyfriend, “So, there’s this thing I’ve been putting off that I need your help for.”

“What is it?”

“Well it’s easier to get into a vampire club if you got a human with you. I need to check a few places out, see if I can find some dealers in mutant blood. Father is friends with a man who runs a mutant safe haven so we have somewhere to evacuate the sources of the mutant blood but, first I have to find the factory.”

May asked “What exactly would this entail?” Skye was still with her mother so they were down a Specialist, thankfully everyone on the Team could fly the Bus.

Cooper shrugged “I’d just need Phil to come with me to the clubs so I can check their supply with a Sentinel scanner.”

“Sentinel?” inquired Fitz, who was still shaken from the mission as was Simmons who sat beside him.

“A mutant detector, I don’t know what to call it.”

“Their supply, you mean the blood they serve?” asked May.

“Yeah. It’s a simple in and out,” Cooper turned back, “Just stay close to me and don’t talk. Father is the head of house, that gives me a little bit of sway, even if we’re not the most respected house.”

“Simple in and out?”

Nodding, Cooper confirmed “Yes. As simple as anything with vampires and humans can be.”

“I’ve done this kind of stuff with your father.”

“No, you’ve probably attended vampire events with Father. This is different, this is turnblood territory.” The pureblood gave him an assessing look, “If you’re ready, the sooner we do this the fewer mutants are drained.” The Team had gotten used to vampire lingo, though they sometimes forgot how old the newest member was.

In their bunks, they changed into more suitable attire before making a shadow jump. Arriving outside a nightclub, Cooper cut the line by flashing his fangs and dragging Phil behind him. Skirting the club floor, he diverted to the supply room on his way to the backroom. Pulling out a scanner, he held it over the tub that supplied blood to the sprinklers in the backroom where the vampires partied. Upon seeing a negative reading, they shadow jumped to the next venue and repeated the process. Occasionally, he’d be interrupted by another vampire. When that happened, he’d set the scanner down to get between his human and the offending vampire, introducing himself and telling the intruder to call their boss. Some misheard House Clinton as House Chthon and laughed at him, prompting him to literally spell it out. They all left the two alone unharmed while Coop checked the reading before shadow jumping to the next location. The process wasn’t exactly slow, so much as it was tedious until they found one at a slaughterhouse where the young vampire had to climb up and aim the scanner at a tube transporting the blood rather than hold it over a large tub.

Cooper of House Clinton hopped down as two large men approached them, he held out a card that looked blank to Phil “I am here on behalf of House Clinton, I need to speak with your supplier for the mutant blood.”He growled possessively when the men tried to grab Phil to shove him.

The vampire they were taken to was snorting cocaine, “Cooper of House Clinton. Do you really expect me to believe your father is investing in mutant blood with the way he defends Inhumans and humanity alike?”

“I never said I was here on behalf of Father and I believe that mutant blood would make a good reward. You gotta throw a dog a bone every now and then as the humans say.”

“Ah, yes. How much do you intend to purchase?”

The young blond glanced down at the cocaine lines before looking the older brunette vampire in the eye, “You’re not the supplier, you’re just a junkie. Do not insult my house and my status by assuming I will ever stoop so low as to buy anything of such value from a measly dealer.”

“You need to leave.”

Cooper smirked, “You’re not getting a high from the cocaine because, as a vampire, you can only get such pleasures from blood. Since you don’t know that, I know you’re too dumb to be running this operation so I want to speak with the one who is running things. Give me that or the factories, I don’t care but do not insult my status as Lord Clinton’s eldest again. Got it?”

“Yes, sir. Here,” he jotted down some information and handed it to Cooper, who glanced at it before pocketing the paper.

“A pleasure doing business. If you’d dismiss your goons then I’ll tell you how to get the best high of your immortal life.” The vampire dismissed his muscle as Cooper sat down, snapping his fingers and pointing to the floor beside him to signal Phil to kneel. “Everyone in my family knows how to give the bite its own high. As a turnblood, you have to focus on wanting to feed again and your powers should make your feeder more susceptible. Let your feeder think you value them. If they think you love them then like an abused spouse, they’ll stay loyal.”

“What about the high? You said you’d tell me how to get the best high?”

“Oh that’s easy. First, you don’t want to feed on a junkie, their blood is tainted and nasty. You want healthy blood so you might need multiple feeders. You’ll also need some way of keeping them from doing drugs without you around, maybe put collars on and tie them up. I don’t care how you do it. Just as the drug high hits them, feed. Keep at least one feeder sober at all times so you can get nutrients.” Cooper leaned forward “I was trying to tell you how to charm a person into becoming a loyal feeder. There’s another high you can give them, bite a vein in an intimate place and you can both enjoy the pleasurable effects. You want to start with one feeder, get them hooked on you then get another feeder, you’ll have to employ mind games to get your feeders comfortable with not being the only one, and you can start giving the first one drugs but keep a doctor familiar to help you time things so they don’t die from the drugs. A drug lord, if you can get one as a familiar, would be able to get you clean product. There’s a lot more I could tell you but night only lasts so long.” He walked to the door, snapping his fingers at his side “Get up and come here.”

Dropping Phil off at his bunk, he went to raid the factory he’d been given information on. The next time Coulson saw a vampire, Clint was asking where the infirmary was and bringing in his nearly dead son. Whipping up a blue concoction with the chemicals on hand, the older vampire stood at the head of his son’s bed “Phil, stand on the other side.” Standing across from each other, Clint pried his son’s jaw open “Give me your wrist.” The archer grabbed his arm just above the wrist when it was offered. Pouring the blue elixir, he quickly pushed the agent’s wrist into place as his son hissed at the burning sensation of the potion. Hawkeye’s gaze locked on the wrist in his son’s mouth, seeming to track how much blood was taken as he grabbed the nearby gauze.

Removing his friend’s wrist, he quickly wrapped it. “This is not good, his bite isn’t healing and unless I miss my guess, that didn’t feel good.”

Phil nodded “You’re right.”

“I need to take him to my house where there are actual vampire healers, not that we need them much but I don’t kill my people just because they’re injured unlike some houses.” He glanced around at the team, “Because he can only feed from you, I’ll have to take both of you and I don’t know how long you’ll be gone. Don’t worry, I’ll let Fury know and he can come up with a bullshit mission for the official records or whatever.” He lifted his son, removing all the monitors and Phil followed him into the shadows, putting his hands on the immortal archer’s shoulders. When they arrived, Clint began barking orders as he set his son up. “Phil, sit here and keep your mouth shut.”

The hustle and bustle soon relaxed after Cooper was hooked up to a bunch of sci-fi contraptions that Phil guessed predated the modern medical tech. A tall, blond man with iridescent purple eyes that most associated with Clint alone, came in and pulled up a chair beside Phil. “My name is Josef, you are Phil Coulson.”

“Why are you here?”

“While Clint and Cooper can turn a vampire human again, I have different gifts. May I see your wrist?”

Phil held it up in front of himself, not quite offering “Why don’t you call them Master like everyone else in House Clinton aside from the family?”

Clint leaned against the doorway “Josef and Jiaying don’t have to do that, they’re my advisors and I trust them to pull my head out of my ass. Kinda hard to do that with deference. Why was I only contacted after the damage was done? Surely you knew what he was going to do.”

“Clint, your son is over a hundred and fifty years old, he’s a big boy and even I know you’re overprotective of your kids.”

“He went into a fight with a building full of vampires and familiars.”

“If I was him, I would’ve contacted SHIELD, except we can’t without outing you. I wouldn’t call the guy who treats me like I’m a tenth of my age.”

The head of the house left to finish what his son started after a quick stop to get permission from Charles Xavier. His methods were much more prone to scaring the mutants he rescued, though he knew the discovery of his son’s fangs had done a number on the younger vampire’s rescues. He simply grabbed them and teleported them away. Charles cancelled lessons to have students work the impromptu field clinic. Stealing stacks of cots from the Tower, which was equipped to handle evacuations as the strongest and most secure building in the area, he helped with resources between evacuations. Anthony and Lila joined his efforts along with a few vampires that Josef enhanced with shadow jumping capabilities.

Following evacuations, his children retreated to the medical supply room which was one of the few underground rooms not being used for overflow. Clint was surprised to see Tony, Bruce and Helen Cho at the school as he passed through in search of a couch to sleep on. “What are you doing here?”

Tony answered “The school has one doctor so I brought some doctors to lend a hand and offered my own help.”

“I thought you didn’t do squishy sciences.”

“I don’t but as an engineer, I can repurpose the tools they have. I’ve already turned a bed frame into a few IV racks. I also have the designs for that finger scanner.” Tony must’ve seen Clint was exhausted, “Don’t worry about it. Right now, I’m just doing what the doctors tell me. Across the hall and two doors to the left is a living room, I think.”

“Thanks.” Clint left to get some sleep, jumping over the people laying on the floor in the sunlight, nature’s security blanket.

Spending his waking hours playing gofer, Clint kept his contact with the traumatized mutants to a minimum lest they see his fangs. After the vampire took him back to the Tower, Tony returned with a box full of networked finger readers. Taking over the medical supply room, Clint set up sequencers on automatic to make as much O- blood as possible. Storm kept the weather mild so that things could be moved outside while the mansion was overflowing with mutants in need. Finding himself with free time, the daywalker found Charles “Do you think M could help? They are all mutants.”

Giving it some thought, Charles nodded “Be sure to tell him what exactly he is helping with and I will tell my team to let him be.”

Teleporting to the Master of Magnetism, Clint told the mutant extremist “There’s over a hundred mutants recently rescued from vampire blood mills who need help at the Mansion. Can we call on you to help?”

The Holocaust survivor took a few moments to think it through, “Yes. I assume you have doctors on sight.”

“Yeah, SI sent some of theirs after the Professor screened them for anti-mutant tendencies. Right now, we need help keeping an eye on their recovery in case anyone starts to crash. I’ve been keeping my distance,” His lip curled with his mouth open to display fangs, “So I don’t know the full situation. I do know that I can transport anyone through shadows and the bunker is always dark. Who should I take? Pick people who can be trusted not to pick fights when they realize they’re working with the X-Men.” Magneto and Mystique gathered those people up before leaving Victor Creed to keep people from deserting or planning a coup, giving him only enough authority to do that.

Upon arriving, he ran out of the bunker and straight to Tony, his mouth clamped shut. He turned the inventor around and drummed his fingers on the man’s neck, hoping he’d understand, which he did. “Lead the way.” They went to the blood room where he could bare his fangs without triggering any of the traumatized mutants. His feeder bared his neck “Go ahead, it’s better for both of us.” Clint pinned Tony’s arms to his sides before biting. He kept a steady mantra in his mind so he wouldn’t lose himself to the hunger, pulling back just in time to catch the weak kneed human.

Meanwhile, Charles met the Brotherhood on the front steps, “Thank you for coming, old friend.”

“I was told many mutants were in need of aid after being used for blood.” They discussed the details, Charles making suggestions for how the mutants Erik brought could help, most of which were followed. The master of all things metal efficiently fixed the blood bag stands to make the most of the metal in them.

Clint visited Cooper after a week to find him still unconscious. Josef informed him “He has begun drinking on his own, I believe he will recover in due time. How goes the mutants’ recovery?”

“It’s slow going but it’s going. Some of the newer subjects have already recovered enough to be taken off IVs and allowed to contribute to the aid effort as long as they take it easy. No one’s died but there have been many close calls.”

“Which is all to be expected.”

“Indeed,” with that, Clint left. Dragging Tony away from where he was trying to adjust Erik’s work, he met with the two mutant leaders on the porch which was one of the few places without rescued mutants everywhere “I’m thinking about withdrawing vampire support.”

“Why?” asked Tony.

Clint smirked at him “Why would I want to take vampires away from victims of vampiric abuse?”

“Oh,” the inventor face palmed. “Does that mean you’re leaving?”

“I have a friend who might be able to speed up the process,” he glanced at Erik’s wrist with a wry grin “How attached are you to that tattoo?”

“I don’t follow,” Tony turned to the mutants “Does anyone follow?”

Clint huffed and pulled out a knife “I can’t exactly give up my wrist bone and even if I could, it wouldn’t work as well as his Holocaust tattoo.”

Warily, Tony asked the vampire “What’s the knife for?”

“Cutting out my wrist bone.”

“Why now?”

Pocketing the knife, he said “Good point. Besides, I’m not sure how much muscle and stuff is between my skin and the engravings.”

Erik asked “What exactly is your friend going to do?”

“I don’t know how to explain it but here goes. Everyone agrees the Holocaust was a great tragedy, or at least everyone who doesn’t want to bury that part of history and have it be forgotten,” he shook his head to clear it, “The event holds some sort of power, something to do with all the pain and suffering and evil tied to it or something. Remnants of the event carry that power, which is what my friend would be getting by taking your tattoo. The power its connection to the Holocaust holds- If you were dead, the power would be dulled or something which is why it has to be taken from a living survivor.”

“In exchange for his tattoo, what would your friend do?”

“Speed up the healing process, the physical part, for most if not all of the people inside. It’s magic, I don’t really understand it nor do I want to. Getting back to the original question, should I withdraw my vampires or do you still need the extra hands?”

Sighing, Charles agreed that the potential for harm having so many vampires around people rescued from their kind was too great now that they had more help. Erik also agreed to give up his tattoo once he understood that taking it wouldn’t take away part of him. A pale man in all black came with Clint when he returned from taking his vampires away, “This is, let’s call him Faust. He calls himself a witch doctor,” looking at the man with a sarcastic grin, Clint asked “Or is it voodoo doctor?”

“Ha, ha.” Faust looked at Erik “You got some Holocaust relic to trade me.” The old man rolled up his sleeve to reveal the numbers inked into his skin. Faust frowned, “We might have a slight problem. This is a remnant of the Holocaust but I think it’s tied into your being, which means it defines you.” He glanced up “I’ll still take it and replenish all the mutants but you’re gonna need someone who knows you very well and a psychic to recover from that.”

For once, Magneto didn’t make a production of things and simply said “Do it.”

When he nearly collapsed, Clint shot forward to catch him, deftly injecting him with a cloudy white substance as he helped the man to lean on the brick half-wall forming the porch railing. After Faust went inside to hold up his end of the deal, the vampire said “You are now at a crossroads. You can do as Faust suggested and return to the man your pain has led you to be or I can arrange a clean slate so you may take advantage of this fresh start.”

Erik looked at him “He didn’t take that much.”

“What were your parents names?” Realizing he couldn’t remember, Erik swore fluently in German. “He said that your tattoo defined you, meaning you let your pain define you. Do you believe me or do you want to stand here and play twenty questions to test your memory?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“You have a big choice ahead of you but I’m sure Charlie will let you stay here to figure it out.” Clint took Tony by the arm and walked away, “How does that happen?”

“How does what happen?” asked Clint.

“How does someone become defined by something so much?”

“Magneto is a Holocaust survivor who believes that a mutant Holocaust is on the horizon and that his people must wage war on the humans before they can slaughter mutantkind. Most people don’t become so consumed by one thing. You heard Faust, he was surprised by that too.”

“So the blood bags, should they be disconnected?”

“Faust is going to make sure they recover fast. He has to be careful, just like anyone else with special powers. I think that most of them will recover within the next month but they will all recover and that’s the big thing. Charlie’s gonna have to find a way to fast track a lot of lesson plans for the students that go home over the summer but I think everyone’s gonna be okay.”

“Why are we in the woods?”

“It’s dark. If we wanted, we could head back now.”

“No.”

“Okay but I’m heading back because I don’t feel comfortable being around so many vampire victims. Just turn around and walk straight, you’ll end up back on the porch.”

As predicted, almost everyone made a full recovery, physically at least, within the first month. Erik offered any who wanted it a place in his Brotherhood and gave the X-Men the locations of alternative safe havens. Clint was called back to return the X-Men’s foes to their base. Cooper, similarly, recovered. He was able to move back to the Bus about the same time the Brotherhood left the Mansion, though he was still suspended from missions and had to feed every night, which his boyfriend didn’t mind, especially since he healed the bites and give him a weak high from them.


End file.
